Cholera cases continue to rise in Cabo Delgado – Mozambique

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Cholera cases continue to rise in Cabo Delgado – Mozambique

8:04 CAT | 26 Jan 2018

File photo / “We would like the figures to show that the number of cholera cases is dropping, but that’s not the trend. Cholera is on the increase because, for example, latrines are not used properly in Cabo Delgado. This increase shows that we are failing”.

The number of diagnosed cholera cases in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado has steadily increased over the past week, the National Director of Public Health, Rosa Marlene, told reporters on Wednesday.

Last week the health authorities announced there was an outbreak of cholera in the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba, and Marlene has admitted that the situation is worsening.

Speaking to the press after an official ceremony to distribute hearing aids to children with hearing disabilities, Marlene said “We would like the figures to show that the number of cholera cases is dropping, but that’s not the trend. Cholera is on the increase because, for example, latrines are not used properly in Cabo Delgado. This increase shows that we are failing”.

Marlene said that the cumulative number of cholera cases diagnosed so far was 92. On Wednesday ten new cases entered Cabo Delgado health units. That s twice as many as entered on Tuesday.

Cabo Delgado was one of the northern provinces lashed by severe storms over the past week. Marlene feared that, if it continues to rain in the province, “the number of cases of cholera and diarrhoea will increase”.

Cholera is a water-borne disease, and spreads most easily through the drinking of contaminated water. Heavy rains and poor sanitation create the conditions for human waste, carrying the cholera bacterium, to seep into the water supply.

So far there have been no deaths in the Pemba cholera outbreak.

Thre has also been a rise in other diarrhoeal diseases. In all cases, the victims are checked to make sure that they are not carrying cholera.

Source: AIM